With access to Childline’s Manchester base, I speak to volunteers and trace how the helpline and the issues affecting children have changed in the 40 years since it started. Today at 1:30pm on BBC Radio 4. #Childline #RadioTimes

“Eyes down, teeth in”. Eleven years ago I made one of my first TV films, joining Notting Hill pensioners on a coach trip to the coast to escape the carnival. Still one of my favourites and never topped that bingo upsound. #NottingHillCarnival youtube.com/watch?v=G1hc...

Notting Hill pensioners escape carnival for Eastbourne

YouTube video by Josephine McDermott

youtube.com

It was fantastic to speak to fellow BBC broadcasting history nerd and programme-maker Paul Karensa for the most ambitious podcast around charting 100 years of BBC radio. We talked about the start of international radio, the Russian Archers and the New Zealander who became the voice of Albania.

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury.bsky.social · 2mo ago

NEW PODCAST KLAXON AHOY O'CLOCK! Ep 126: The BBC Goes Transatlantic... and International Shortwave Radio 6 Nov-2 Dec 1923: The BBC + the USA had a conversation, across an ocean, across a week. Hear about this & Archive on 4's The Sound of Soft Power Enjoy! bbcentury.podbean.com/e/126-the-bb...

Today on the BBC World Service and BBC Sounds we mark 50 years since the start of a peace movement in Northern Ireland which came about after three young children were killed in the middle of the sectarian violence. Their uncle, Gerry Grehan, bravely shares his account www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Witness History - Peace People: The Northern Ireland campaign group born from tragedy - BBC Sounds

Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams won the Nobel Peace Prize

bbc.co.uk

I’ve had several lovely messages from Israel to Sweden since The Sound of Soft Power aired on the BBC World Service. A lot of love and respect for international radio and what it has given us

Simon Egleton@simon-e-e.bsky.social · 3mo ago

That was absolutely superb, such a thorough look into the subject, thank you! As a boy of 8 (1969) I bought a radio that could receive SW. I was already listening to some of the MW music pirates, but these stations on SW further opened up my world out of grey Luton.

When I began making a programme about the history of international radio and soft power, Voice of America journalists were fighting to reinstate its funding. Before it was finished, the BBC had announced more cuts. The Radio Times calls Archive on 4: The Sound of Soft Power “timely and fascinating”.

Jung Chang, whose lifetime’s writing has informed so much opinion about Mao’s cultural revolution outside of China, says “In China now the repression is the worst it’s been since Mao’s death in 1976.” Speaking at @mcrlitfest.bsky.social

Wow! Archive on 4: Do You Speak English? has been shortlisted for an award from the Association for International Broadcasters. Making the documentary led me to a trove of radio and TV programmes broadcast abroad to teach English that I and most people in the UK had never heard before. #BBCSounds

50 years ago today, July 25, 1975: The landmark musical A CHORUS LINE opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre. The show, conceived and directed by Michael Bennett, won nine Tony Awards and ran for a then-record 15 years. It became a tourist attraction and helped revitalize Times Square.

Burnside Gooch@burnsidegooch.bsky.social · last yr.

A 5, 6, 7, 8… 50!

“I hope I get it. I hope I get it…” 🎶 It’s 50 years since the premiere of A Chorus Line. Baayork Lee who was in the original cast describes what it was like to make musical history.

Witness History - A Chorus Line - BBC Sounds

Broadway hit A Chorus Line premieres in 1975

bbc.co.uk

The story of the passion and drive behind the creation of Voice of America and its reporting in the 1940s was an important one to tell so I’m thrilled my programme ‘The Start of Voice of America’ was a BBC Radio 4 pick of the week #VOA

Antaine Mac Aoidh@antainemacaoidh.bsky.social · last yr.

Pick of the Week from the green of Portrush this evening, with @freyamcc.bsky.social teeing us off at 1815, including @josephinemcdermott.bsky.social @laurenlaverne.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

After long negotiations in 2015, solving Greece’s debt crisis came down to 17 hours of talks between EU leaders. Greece’s then finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos tells me what happened behind closed doors in the early hours #bbcworldservice #Greece

In 1942 Eugene Kern walked into the #VoiceofAmerica office looking for a job. He was put to work straight away producing a Finnish show unable to speak a word. Hear his account of the start of the dismantled broadcaster set up to counter Nazi propaganda

Back to the Future is 40-years-old today! Did you know the DeLorean started out as a refrigerator? youtube.com/watch?v=dCVG...

Creating Back to the Future, 40 years on - Witness History podcast, BBC World Service

YouTube video by BBC World Service

youtube.com

Nigeria has pardoned Ken Saro-Wiwa 30 years after his execution. The writer stood up against oil producers in the Niger Delta. In 2014 Witness History spoke to his friend and fellow campaigner Ledum Mitee #BBCWorldService www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Witness History - The Execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa - BBC Sounds

In 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists were executed by the Nigerian regime.

bbc.co.uk

Archaeologist Khalil Hariri risked everything - and was even shot at - when he rescued 400 artefacts from the clutches of the Islamic State group 10 years ago in Palmyra. Today’s Witness History on the BBC World Service www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Witness History - Rescuing Palmyra’s treasures from the Islamic State group - BBC Sounds

In 2015 Khalil Hariri risked his life to save centuries-old archaeology in Syria

bbc.co.uk

It’s 10 years since a history-making phone call. President Goodluck Jonathan phoned his election opponent to concede defeat. It was the first time it had happened in Africa’s biggest democracy, Nigeria. President Jonathan’s media aide recalls the moment www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Witness History - Goodluck Jonathan’s phone call that changed Nigeria - BBC Sounds

President Goodluck Jonathan's call to Muhammadu Buhari to concede election defeat in 2015

bbc.co.uk

There are so many bonkers aspects to the story of defector Thae Yong-Ho - NK’s Ealing embassy, trying to close a London barbers that made fun of KJU’s haircut - but there’s also the tragic & brave stories of those who now live in London’s “Little Pyongyang”, New Malden. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

“It’s like falling in love, discovering a new continent and winning a great victory all at one” What a description of a scientific discovery! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... #MaxPerutz #Chemistry #Haemoglobin

Witness History - Discovering the structure of haemoglobin - BBC Sounds

Dr Max Perutz made one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century

bbc.co.uk

Thank you @owainwynevans.bsky.social for choosing Mary Fisher’s interview about her ‘Whisper of AIDS’ speech for Witness History as a Pick of the Week @maryfisher.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Pick of the Week - Owain Wyn Evans - BBC Sounds

Turn up the volume to 11 with a selection of the best bits of radio from the last week.

bbc.co.uk

In 1992 Mary Fisher didn’t expect to see her sons aged 4 and 2 grow up. She gave a speech to challenge the stigma of HIV and AIDS. It’s ranked one of the most important of the 20th century in the US. She reflected on it with me for Witness History www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Witness History - Mary Fisher's 'A Whisper of Aids' speech - BBC Sounds

Mary Fisher set out to fight the prejudice faced by those with HIV and Aids

bbc.co.uk

“One of my standout favourites of the week” from Claudia Hammond on Pick of the Week www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Archive on 4 - Do You Speak English? - BBC Sounds

How the BBC taught the world English through radio and television

bbc.co.uk

Delighted that Archive on 4: Do You Speak English? is a Radio Times @radiotimes.bsky.social Pick of the Week. So many World Service gems uncovered including China’s Follow Me. Radio 4, Saturday at 20:00